Frost did not make it onto the Sunday Times Rich List this year. Oh well, there is always next year. Still touring at the age of 72, Sir Paul McCartney is the wealthiest entertainer in Britain and Ireland with a £730m fortune which is boosted by the personal wealth of his wife Nancy Shevell, who has a £150m stake in her family’s US trucking business.
The fortunes of the richest performers and composers – old and young – are revealed in the 27th annual Sunday Times Rich List – the definitive guide to wealth in Britain and Ireland – published this weekend, on April 26, in a special 128-page issue of The Sunday Times Magazine.
Newcomer to the top 40 music millionaires chart is Dumfries-born DJ Calvin Harris, aged 31 and worth £70m. Harris is reported to earn up to $1m a night as the world’s highest-paid DJ, appearing in clubs and at festivals from Las Vegas to Ibiza. Last year, he became the first UK solo artist to clock up more than a billion Spotify streams, worth £4m, and his track Summer was the number one iTunes download in 40 territories.
The four members of Dublin band U2 – Paul Hewson (Bono), 54, Adam Clayton, 55, Dave Evans (the Edge), 53, and Larry Mullen, 53 – have made most of their £431m fortune from touring. Guy Berryman, 38, Johnny Buckland, 37, Will Champion, 36, and Chris Martin, 38, the four members of Coldplay are each worth £52m, giving them a combined fortune of £208m.
The wealth of Phil Collins, 64, is down by £5m this year to £110m because the Geneva-based former drummer and singer with Genesis, who has sold 250m records, has announced that he has given some of his fortune to his children.
THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2015
THE TOP 40 MUSIC MILLIONAIRES IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND
| 2015
rank |
2014
rank |
Name | 2015
wealth |
Wealth increase,
unless indicated |
| 1 | (1) | Sir Paul McCartney and Nancy Shevell | £730m | £20m |
| 2 | (2) | Lord Lloyd-Webber | £650m | £10m |
| 3 | (3) | U2 | £431m | £3m |
| 4 | (4) | Sir Elton John | £270m | £10m |
| 5 | (5) | Sir Mick Jagger | £225m | £10m |
| 6 | (6) | Keith Richards | £210m | £10m |
| 7 | (7) | Michael Flatley | £195m | £2m |
| 8= | (9) | Ringo Starr | £180m | £10m |
| 8= | (8) | Sting | £180m | £0m |
| 10 | 10) | Roger Waters | £160m | £0m |
| 11 | (11=) | Eric Clapton | £155m | £5m |
| 12= | (13) | Sir Tom Jones | £150m | £5m |
| 12= | (11=) | Sir Tim Rice | £150m | £0m |
| 12= | (14) | Rod Stewart | £150m | £10m |
| 15= | (15) | David Bowie and Iman Abdulmajid | £135m | £0m |
| 15= | (17) | Robbie Williams | £135m | £15m |
| 17 | (16) | Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne | £130m | £0m |
| 18= | (18) | Phil Collins | £110m | Down £5m |
| 18= | (19=) | Brian May | £110m | £5m |
| 18= | (21=) | Charlie Watts | £110m | £10m |
| 21= | (19=) | George Michael | £105m | £0m |
| 21= | (21=) | Roger Taylor | £105m | £5m |
| 23= | (21=) | Jimmy Page | £100m | £0m |
| 23= | (21=) | Robert Plant | £100m | £0m |
| 25= | (25) | Enya | £90m | £2m |
| 25= | (26) | David Gilmour | £90m | £5m |
| 27 | (27) | John Deacon | £85m | £10m |
| 28 | (28) | Noel and Liam Gallagher | £77m | £3m |
| 29 | (29=) | Nick Mason | £75m | £5m |
| 30= | (new) | Calvin Harris | £70m | (new) |
| 30= | (29=) | Mark Knopfler | £70m | £0m |
| 30= | (29=) | Pete Townshend | £70m | £0m |
| 33= | (32=) | Gary Barlow | £65m | £0m |
| 33= | (32=) | Engelbert Humperdinck | £65m | £0m |
| 35= | (34=) | Barry Gibb | £60m | £0m |
| 35= | (34=) | John Paul Jones | £60m | £0m |
| 37= | (37=) | Kylie Minogue | £55m | £5m |
| 37= | (36) | Sir Cliff Richard | £55m | £0m |
| 39= | (37=) | Guy Berryman | £52m | £2m |
| 39= | (37=) | Jonny Buckland | £52m | £2m |
| 39= | (37=) | Will Champion | £52m | £2m |
| 39= | (37=) | Chris Martin | £52m | £2m |
Singer and songwriter Adele, aged 26, heads the list of young musicians with a £50m fortune, up £5m on last year. Each member of One Direction has seen their personal wealth grow by £11m in the past 12 months, giving the four current members of the band – Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson – a combined fortune of £100m. Zayn Malik, who left One Direction last month, is also worth £25m.
At £45m, Arctic Monkeys are the second wealthiest young band, with Matt Helders and Nick O’Malley each worth £10m, while Jamie Cook shares a £12m fortune with his wife Katie Downes, who has made £2m from her career as a model. Alex Turner, who has other music interests, is worth £13m.
Mumford and Sons, worth a total of £37m, are the third richest young band in Britain and Ireland, aged 30 and under. Band members Ted Dwane, Ben Lovett and Winston Marshall are each worth £8m, while Marcus Mumford is jointly worth £13m with his wife Carey Mulligan.
Although no longer performing, the four members of JLS have a combined fortune of £30m. JB Gill, Aston Merrygold and Oritse Williams are each worth £7m, while Marvin Humes shares a £9m fortune with his wife Rochelle, who is a member of the Saturdays.
The only newcomer to the Young Musicians Rich List is 22-year-old singing sensation Sam Smith. The Cambridgeshire crooner, who writes his own material and won two Brit Awards and four Grammys last year, already his £12m to his name on the strength of album sales and future tours.
THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST 2015
THE 20 RICHEST YOUNG MUSICIANS
IN BRITAIN AND IRELAND (Aged 30 or under)
| 2015
rank |
2014
rank |
Name | 2015 wealth | Wealth increase
|
| 1 | (1) | Adele | £50m | £5m |
| 2= | (4=) | Niall Horan | £25m | £11m |
| 2= | (4=) | Zayn Malik | £25m | £11m |
| 2= | (4=) | Liam Payne | £25m | £11m |
| 2= | (4=) | Harry Styles | £25m | £11m |
| 2= | (4=) | Louis Tomlinson | £25m | £11m |
| 7 | (23=) | Ed Sheeran | £20m | £13m |
| 8= | (23=) | Ellie Goulding | £13m | £6m |
| 8= | (12=) | Jessie J | £13m | £3m |
| 8= | (9=) | Leona Lewis | £13m | £0m |
| 8= | (11) | Katie Melua | £13m | £1m |
| 8= | (9=) | Marcus Mumford and Carey Mulligan | £13m | £0m |
| 8= | (14) | Alex Turner | £13m | £4m |
| 14= | (23=) | Jamie Cook and Katie Downes | £12m | £5m |
| 14= | (new) | Sam Smith | £12m | (new) |
| 14= | (12=) | Florence Welch | £12m | £2m |
| 17= | (23=) | Matt Helders | £10m | £3m |
| 17= | (15=) | Olly Murs | £10m | £2m |
| 17= | (23=) | Nick O’Malley | £10m | £3m |
| 20 | (23=) | Marvin and Rochelle Humes | £9m | £2m |
THE SUNDAY TIMES RICH LIST – 128 PAGES ON APRIL 26
The 2015 Sunday Times Rich List – the definitive guide to wealth in Britain and Ireland – is published on Sunday, April 26. The 128-page special edition of The Sunday Times Magazine is the biggest issue of the Rich List ever published since it first appeared in 1989. It charts the wealth of the 1,000 richest people in the UK and the 250 richest in Ireland. The list is based on identifiable wealth, including land, property, other assets such as art and racehorses, or significant shares in publicly quoted companies. It excludes bank accounts, to which the paper has no access.
The Sunday Times Rich List is compiled by Philip Beresford, the leading British expert on wealth, and edited by Ian Coxon. The complete list will be available to all the paper’s digital members and will be fully searchable online at thesundaytimes.co.uk/richlist
Source: The Sunday Times Rich List